Reviews: Narita, Ryogho

The Rolling Bootlegs —
Ryohgo Narita
Baccano!, book 1

Ryohgo
Narita’s light
novelBaccano!
The Rolling Bootlegs won
the Dengeki
Gold Prize
when it was published in 2003. Translated into English in 2016 by
Taylor Engel, it is the first volume in the ongoing Baccano
series. Narita’s tale of criminals and lunatics, alchemy and murder
is capably illustrated by Katsumi Enami.

Nothing
provides results quite like foolish shortcuts. The boatload of
alchemists on their way to the New World in 1711 learn this the hard
way. While they may be almost immortal, immune to age and injury,
they are not invulnerable. All of them can still die at the hands of
their immortal companions. Since the killer absorbs all the memories
of the victim, there is incentive to murder. A strong incentive, as
only one of the alchemists knows how to brew the elixir of
immortality. It takes less than a day for the ambitious Szilard Quates to
start murdering his fellow alchemists for their knowledge and power.